The Arctic Six
by Ariadne'sThread
Summary: A series of snapshots detailing how each crew member arrived on the Arctic Warrior.
1. Murphy

**Disclaimer: I do not own Ghost Ship, or any of the associated characters or situations. I'm merely playing with the characters and promise to return them in (hopefully) good condition. As ever, I'd love to hear any feedback, positive or ortherwise. And thanks to SnuffSnuff for beta-ing. **

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Before the Warrior came Murphy. He'd worked in the salvage business for twenty odd years and knew the sea like the back of his hand, which isn't to say it didn't surprise him.

He'd worked in salvage for twenty years and had seen some strange things. He's seen a ship's cat disappear halfway through a voyage, hundreds of miles from anything, and reappear when they get back to land. He'd heard a woman crying at night on a ship that carries only men. He'd even seen the flash of an emerald green tail playing in the ship's wake, which he always kept quiet about unless he was really paralytic. And even then he knew to keep quiet about the hair.

Eventually he saved enough so he could afford to talk to a man about a boat. It was old, it was going to need a lot of work and it'd be a risk even if it was brand new. Murphy took it. All he needed was a crew.

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**Next up: Greer.**


	2. Greer

**A/N: Once again, I own nothing, thanks to SnuffSnuff for beta-ing.**

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Any way you looked at it, Greer came first. He had known Murphy years ago, before he had joined the navy. Now, on the first leave he'd had in months he's sitting in a bar in Anchorage, turning the resignation letter over in his hands. Murphy knows what's inside it, but there's a curious etiquette between seamen, and he lets Greer tell him in his own time.

"Things are getting serious with Suzie," Greer says. Suzie is not the one who'll come three weeks short of becoming Mrs Greer, or even the one before her. "She wants me to move in with her. And if we're going to live together I've got to have some say in when I go to sea."

It would be easy to see a young man wanting to spend more time with his girlfriend. Murphy knew better: the sea is Greer's bolthole.

"Do you want to move in with her?"

Greer shrugs and grins. "It's somewhere to keep my stuff right?"

It's a few drinks into the evening and Murphy can't tell to what extent he's joking.

"Thing is," Greer says, running the once crisp edge of the envelope between his forefinger and thumb. He's going to have to replace it before he posts it. "If we're going to live together; it's a big step. I need a steady job y'know?"

Murphy knows.

"Funny that," he says, tracing the rim of his glass with his thumb. It makes a faint, musical noise, that he wasn't expecting and isn't sure he likes. "I need a first mate."

They drink for most of the night, and if at the end of it Murphy spends ten minutes trying to open a front door that isn't his using his car keys, Greer is in no state to find it anything other than hilarious.

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**Next up: Epps.**


	3. Epps

**A/N: Once again, I do not own Ghost Ship or any of the characters or situations depicted therein. Thanks to SnuffSnuff for beta-reading and to MythStar Black Dragon for the review. This was the chapter that I had clearest in my head when I started, so I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.**

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"Okay," Epps says, taking the bar stool next to Murphy and slamming a newspaper onto the bar as though she has a personal grudge against both. "You were right. You mind getting me a beer?"

She is, to clarify, talking to the bartender. Murphy doesn't know her yet.

"Well I told you sweetie," the bartender says. She's the type of person who calls everyone sweetie, even in a bar where the regular clientele are anything but sweet. "Feminism stops at the shore line."

"I wasn't expecting equal opportunities," the girl says, twisting the cap off her beer moodily. Murphy sneaks a sideways glance at her and sees a mass of stubborn curls obscuring an equally stubborn expression. "I just didn't realise there wouldn't be_ any_."

"You think I expected to be working behind a bar at my age?" the bartender snorts. "You want to get yourself down to one of the cities."

"I want to get out to sea," the girl says, her voice softening to become almost wistful.

"So book a cruise," the bartender says, not unsympathetically. "That's the only way you'll get out of this port."

"If it makes you feel any better," Murphy says. "I'd hire you. If you were any good."

He's vaguely aware that he's at the stage of drunkenness where he says things he means; which are usually worse and more dangerous than the things he doesn't.

"Excuse me?" the girl asks. She has the sort of face people call striking: her cheekbones are too wide and her eyes are too sharp for her to be pretty. Murphy is sturck.

"I'd hire you," he repeats, taking her paper, and circling his own ad, which through bad luck has been placed in the corner, almost out of sight. "If you were any good."

He drains his beer, pays his tab and walks out without looking back. Then he goes to goes to find Greer and puts it out of his mind.

The phone call comes the next day.

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**Next up: Munder**


	4. Munder

**Disclaimer: Once again, I do not own Ghost Ship or any associated characters or situations. Big thanks go to SnuffSnuff for beta-reading and to MythStarBlackDragon and ScarletMoonatMidnight for reviewing. **

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"I told you," Greer says one night. "Women complicate things."

This is unfair. Someone is making things complicated but it isn't Epps.

"What kind of name is Epps?" Munder asks Epps the first time the two meet. This is not the first time he's met Murphy. That was the interview: if Epps had been there Murphy might have foreseen the whole business and hired someone else. Now there's the contract to think of. Not to mention that Munder's good.

"It's my name," Epps retorts and things pretty much go downhill from there.

You could say that they hit rock bottom a month later when, drunk on the success of their first commission and a considerable amount of beer, Munder makes a pass at her, but this wouldn't do justice to the furious silences and intermittent arguments that descend on the ship afterwards.

"They'll get over it," Murphy says, over the muffled row going on upstairs. He can't pick out the words, but it sounds like they're debating whether or not Epps kissed back.

"What if they don't?" Greer asks gloomily, toying with his beer. Perhaps if it wasn't for the row upstairs, he'd notice that Murphy is three beers ahead of him. As it is, he doesn't. Not yet.

"They'll have to," Murphy shrugs. "You put two people in an enclosed space for long enough and they'll either learn to get on or kill each other."

"Yes," Greer says, staring moodily at the ceiling. "That's what worries me."

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**Next up: Dodge**


	5. Dodge

**Disclaimer: I do not own Ghost Ship or any associated plots or characters. Thanks to SnuffSnuff for beta-ing and to MythStarBlackDragon for reviewing. This chapter took a while, because I wasn't sure what to do for Dodge. I ended up doing this, and I can only hope you think it was worth it.**

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Crew members come and go. Epps and Munder stop yelling at each other. Murphy's drinking becomes an issue. There are quiet conversations, followed by blazing rows, followed by more quiet conversations. By the time Dodge arrives the only indication of a problem is Epps taking him to one side and telling him that they are not, under any circumstances, to drink in front of Murphy.

She's protective of the captain, Dodge notices. She'll bring him a coat when it's cold, not complain when he steals her seat: not big things, but significant.

"She had a hard time getting into the salvage trade," Greer says, when Dodge asks him what the deal is with them. They're up on the bridge: only Greer needs to be there, but Dodge likes the quiet and Munder goes where the conversation is. "Murphy gave her a chance."

"So are they…y'know?"

"Hell no," Greer snorts, keeping his eyes fixed on some point in the darkness outside. "They're just close: that's all."

"Don't even bother," Munder says when Greer leaves them in charge so he can go outside for a smoke. "The thing about Epps is she doesn't like being reminded she's a girl."

"You know that from experience?" Dodge retorts: he hadn't realised he was that transparent.

"I got farther than you ever will. Pretty boy," Munder snorts and the two of them bicker until Greer comes in and tells them both to shut up and let him concentrate.

It's the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

**---**

**Next up: Santos.**


	6. Santos

**A/N: Well here's the final chapter. Just to remind you, I don't own and am not profiting from any aspect of the movie Ghost Ship. Big thanks go out to my beta SnuffSnuff and everybody who reviewed. Just because this is the final chapter doesn't mean I don't need feedback, so please review. =D**

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Murphy never wanted a mechanic onboard: he likes the miniature world of the Arctic Warrior to be simple and uncluttered. And nothing takes up more room than an unnecessary crew member.

Then one day, when they're a million miles from anywhere, the Warrior's engines cut out, leaving her at the mercy of the currents. The radio hasn't been working properly for over a week and now it refuses to work at all.

Under the strain, relationships start to fray and old arguments resurface. All the little things the crew have learned to live with start to grate and the metal walls of the Arctic Warrior seem to close in around them. Without much to do or much space to do it in, they are always under each others feet and they have plenty of time for resentment to simmer.

Epps and Munder are the first to crack: Epps becomes tetchy and defensive and Munder is in no mood to walk on eggshells. Disputes everyone thought had healed turned out to have been festering instead. Epps asks Munder acidly if it was necessary to use the radio to check the football scores. Munder replies that at least he's not using it to play her sort of music. Epps demands what that has to do with anything. Munder accuses her of being frigid. Things pretty much go downhill from there.

Once the argument has started it spreads like a plague. Dodge wades in to stick up for Epps and ends up under fire from both directions. Pretty soon none of them are speaking to any of the others and make up for it by attempting to corner Greer and Murphy. Greer locks himself in his cabin, turns his walkman up as high as it will go and refuses to come out. As the captain Murphy feels this is beneath him; not least because he doesn't own a walkman.

What he does own, hidden behind the loose panel in the supply closet, is a bottle of scotch. When the bickering gets too much, Murphy slips inside to retrieve it. Epps is waiting for him and she is not impressed. Epps screams at Murphy. Murphy yells at Epps. Everyone retreats to separate corners of the ship and simmers.

It is almost a fortnight before the Canadian coastguard picks them up and the minutes drag by painfully. It isn't until they are all back on dry land and pretty much speaking to each other again that Murphy is forced to concede that perhaps a mechanic qualifies as a necessary team member.

**-The End-**


End file.
